Chapter 54: Insights into the slave market of the Great Zhou Dynasty
Many prefectures and counties in the Zhou Dynasty followed Chang'an's example and established East City and West City.
Not to mention Longcheng County, which is the throat of Jiangzhou. There is an endless flow of trade from all directions, and the east and west cities are naturally busy with trade.
Dongshi is mostly run by Han merchants and is close to local wealthy streets, including Luming Street. It prefers to serve wealthy officials and households in Longcheng County.
The West Market is more open, close to Penglang Ferry, gathering visitors from all over the world, and more internationalized. There are many Hu merchants operating in the city. The West Market has always been more prosperous than the East Market.
Therefore, during the Great Zhou Dynasty, buying goods is also called "buying things".
Like Chang'an, Luoyang and many other prefectures and counties, the slave trading market in Longcheng County and the Kou Ma Store in Xishi specialize in trading slaves, horses and other domestic animals. It can be seen that the legal status of the two is actually the same, and they are regarded as private property.
People can choose and buy and sell at will.
It was the first time Ouyang Rong set foot here. He unexpectedly found that it was not as chaotic, dirty, and rude as expected, but instead... orderly.
On both sides of the street, slaves were placed separately from horses and livestock. Not all slaves were tied up hand and foot and locked in cages. This was the treatment of ordinary slaves. Many high-level slaves were decorated with clothes and even jewelry by Hu merchants to attract high-profile customers at the door.
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On the bulletin board at the entrance of Kou Ma Hang Street, there is even a public standard slave price list, such as the prices of ordinary slaves, high-end slaves, good horses, famous horses, female slaves, and maidservants, which are also divided into Han and Hu.
However, the announcement gives only a reference price, not a price limit.
The upper limit depends on the degree of scarcity, such as foreign treasures, rare slaves, young and beautiful slave girls, or slave girls who are good at singing and dancing, etc., the price will definitely take off.
Hu merchants, who were able to do business all over the world, were naturally shrewd and philistine, and knew the tastes and tastes of the high-ranking officials in the Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, Mei Ji and the horse are the two most expensive items in the horse shop and they will never go out of style.
However, the only thing that is slightly comforting is that the procedures and systems of the Great Zhou slave trade are very strict. After all, they can be sold together with horses, and the latter are strategic materials.
There is also a city order at the end of this Kou Ma Hang Trading Street to assist in management. Every slave transaction must be issued by the city order, otherwise both the buyer and the seller will be whipped, and the city officials will be punished.
This is to prevent the good from being treated as inferior. In this dynasty, the boundaries between good and inferior are very clear, and the system in this regard is strict.
At the same time, this is also for the purpose of collecting taxes. The taxes collected from the slave trade were the source of the military resources of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, local city magistrates and other officials are not all under the management of the local county government. There are special affairs offices in the two capitals and various Dao.
command.
Local governments have little influence.
Watching all the way, Ouyang Rong's eyes were opened.
Stepping into this street, he felt a strange sense of order, which was both civilized and barbaric, gentle and violent. The most important thing was that everyone involved took it for granted, even the objects of trafficking, slaves.
, what is sad and angry is not why slaves exist, but why they fell into low status.
If you want to get involved or even shake this barbaric order, a small county order is definitely not enough, unless you can hold part of the imperial power of the two capitals.
Regarding matters related to Tan Lang, Zhen was very proud, so she just took Ouyang Rong and his group to look at the bulletin board at the street entrance for a while, and then went directly to the largest Hu shop in Kou Maxing.
Before entering the door, Ouyang Rong glanced at the embroidered cloth sign above:
Horse travel at Jinxiaokou.
The person who took the lead to greet them was a big food merchant, who was of medium height, with thick beard, black hair, deep pupils, and a big and aquiline nose.
Behind the big food merchant were two Kunlun slaves, with curly hair, dark skin, and bodies as strong as cattle. Most of these Kunlun slaves came from Southeast Asia. They were old coolies because they were down-to-earth, upright, and hard-working. The dignitaries of the Zhou Dynasty liked to raise animals.
However, most of them are not used for work, but to show financial strength.
As soon as Ouyang Rong and Zhen entered the door, a pair of shrewd eyes under the big food businessman's hat stared straight at them, as if they wanted to take a thorough look at the visitors.
Seeing these familiar Central Asian features and the piece of cloth on his head... Ouyang Rong was a little surprised and looked up and down.
After listening to Zhen's and others' low-pitched explanations, I realized that almost all of these big food merchants from Kouma and the Persian Hu merchants came from the Guangzhou Dudu Mansion on Lingnan Road further south, which was the most prosperous place on Lingnan Road.
Although Lingnan Road is further south than Jiangnan Road, many areas have not been fully developed. It is a barbarian land in the traditional impression of the people of the Zhou Dynasty. It is a place where officials were demoted and exiled forever.
But there is an exception in this wild "South", which is Guangzhou, the only big city on Lingnan Road. This was the largest port in the Zhou Dynasty. It had a prosperous economy, a large number of foreign businessmen, and many merchant ships from feudal lords. It looked like all nations were coming to visit.
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These all originate from a prosperous trade route known at home and abroad, the Guangzhou Tonghai Yi Road.
Ouyang Rong estimated that it should be a maritime Silk Road that was beginning to take shape, but he did not expect that the maritime trade of the Zhou Dynasty was so developed and spread all over the country. These large food, Persian merchants, and exotic goods and slaves were so active in the
In front of him.
I thought that the exchange meeting would require an interpreter or something, or that I would hear a bad pronunciation, but I didn’t expect that this big food businessman’s Dazhou Yayan was more fluent than Ouyang Rong. He even had an authentic name when he introduced himself:
Li Yan".
If you put aside his appearance, he is really no different from the people of the Zhou Dynasty.
Mrs. Zhen seemed not surprised by this, and without any nonsense, she directly ordered:
"Shopkeeper Li, bring out the best maid of yours, Mei Ji, and let my Tan Lang choose her. She must not be older than 20 years old. The Hu girl must be able to speak elegant language. She must not be a gibberish barbarian. The most important thing in the slave family is
I can’t stand this anymore.”
"Madam, please rest assured. The beautiful girl we Jinxiao selected and cultivated has naturally become a king. She is well-spoken and well-behaved."
Li Yan touched his beard. His rich experience in looking at people made him very confident and even arrogant. He chuckled:
"Each one has his or her own style, and will surely please the young man and return home with his beautiful wife."
Mrs. Zhen was noncommittal, "It's best that way." After a pause, she added: "But my Tan Lang's requirements may be a little bit high."
The big food merchant smiled slightly and didn't take it seriously.
A young man who has just grown up and is full of energy, no matter how high his demands are, how can he be more demanding?
Moreover, the noble lady in front of me has a strong personality at first glance. If this handsome man is better than the woman's hands, it will be easy to guess his taste:
If you don't like Xiaojiabiyu, who is well-behaved, docile and clingy, you can get a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that is hard to get from a noble lady;
If you don't like the charming sister who is lively, cheerful, forthright and forthright, she can soothe the withdrawn character raised in a deep house and compound, and you will have no resistance to the passionate, understanding and caring sister.
However, Li Yan still looked a little more serious.
First, he invited the noble lady and the handsome man, who looked around as if he had never seen much of the world, to a private room to drink tea. He left two Kunlun slaves to serve tea and take care of them, while he went to the rear to select the person himself.
Ouyang Rong looked around not because he had never seen Waiguo people, but because the style of painting in front of him was too damn weird. Perhaps in the eyes of Zhen and Liu Ashan, these were "barbaric and unenlightened people"
Fan Hu", they all look the same, they are all ugly. But in his eyes...
Just imagine, in an antique shop, a short Arab and two strong black men, wearing Chinese-style clothes and speaking fluent Chinese, released slaves of various races from foreign countries from their cages.
, respectfully introduce you one by one to you who is wearing a Confucian shirt, with your hair tied up and wearing a crown...